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Dallas ISD might finally have come to the realization that not all students will graduate high school, go on the college, and eventually land a white-collar gig.

The district now offers a few non-academic courses — the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a good example — and, for the third year running, the district also offers the Chefology 101 summer course, which has nothing to do with academics since “chefology” is not a real word.

It started Monday and runs through July 30 at the DISD Maria Luna Food Service Facility and at Le Cordon Bleu School. The sessions teach students “cooking techniques, basic nutrition, aspects of menu planning, recipe development, and catering services,” according to the DISD news release, and future coursework that could lead to a culinary career.

It’s really a good idea because no amount of cramming algebra and trigonometry down a creative-type’s throat is going to make her or him learn the stuff.

If schools don’t offer guidance, kids will just experiment on their own, and the results could be sickening, similar to a Gahan Wilson cartoon of years ago. A kid, left home alone while his parents went out, fended for his own dinner. The next to last panel showed him at the kitchen counter, looking into a bowl, and thinking, “Hmm, that’s odd, when I added the grape jelly it turned orange.” The last panel was too disgusting to bring up in polite company.

Bruce Felps owns and operatesEast Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. For some reason, he’s just not hungry right now.